Raise the Line

"Do nothing for us without us." According to today’s guest Robyn Bussey, that operating principle is the basis for effective community health work. "You don't go into a community and dictate. You go and listen and trust and be a partner," she adds. As you’ll learn in this enlightening conversation, Bussey is following that approach in her current work as Just Health Director at the Partnership for Southern Equity, an At...

As concerns escalate about the deadly Ebola virus outbreak in Africa, we bring you the unique insights of Dr. Peter Piot, a renowned microbiologist who co-discovered the virus 50 years ago during the first recorded outbreak of the disease. His on-the-ground account of that crisis was provided to us in April before the current outbreak was declared, but it contains valuable historical perspective and shares lessons learned that he c...

The ongoing outbreak of hantavirus infections that originated with passengers on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius in April has generated concerns across the globe. This very rare occurrence has led to a number of deaths, required quarantining of passengers and prompted emergency responses from public health authorities in multiple countries. 

On this episode of Raise the Line from Elsevier, we’re tapping the expertise of...

We mark National Mental Health Awareness Month on this episode by tapping the expertise of Dr. Steve Strakowski, an internationally recognized expert in bipolar disorder, who has spent decades studying the neurobiology and treatment of mood conditions while pushing just as hard on the structural barriers that keep effective treatments out of reach for more than half the people who need them.

In this conversation with Raise the Line...

"When the workforce does not align with the population, your system is misaligned by design." That candid observation comes from Tina Loarte-Rodríguez, DP, RN who has spent much of her two decade career in patient safety, risk management, and systems leadership as the only Latina in the room, which she sees as a signal of a systemic failure that demands structural solutions.

As we mark National Nurses Month, Dr. Loarte-Rodríguez jo...

The doctor is in....the box.  That’s one way to describe how patients are now encountering their physicians in what’s being described as the future of telehealth. Imagine that instead of a cancer patient in a rural area driving hours for an appointment to see their specialist at an academic health center, they can go to their local clinic and see a life-size, real-time, 3-D projection of them in a seven foot tall l...

“One of the reasons The Pitt has been so successful is because it's showing real expertise in a time when everybody thinks they're an expert,” says Dr. Mel Herbert, who brings decades of experience as an emergency medicine specialist to his work as a writer and consultant on the hit HBO Max show. Dr. Herbert, who was also a consultant on the groundbreaking TV drama ER, is one of seven physicians on The Pitt’s writ...

"Headache is just a teeny piece of the puzzle," says Dr. Regina Krel, an insight that’s at the heart of why migraine syndrome, one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, remains so persistently misunderstood. In this informative conversation with Raise the Line from Elsevier host Michael Carrese, Dr. Krel, the director of Headache Medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center, explains migraine as a storm that...

To mark the sixth anniversary of Raise the Line from Elsevier we're revisiting one of the most remarkable stories we've had the privilege of sharing over the last 575 episodes. To do that, we're delighted to welcome back Dr. David Fajgenbaum, a physician-scientist who repurposed an existing medication that saved his own life from Castleman disease, an ultra-rare condition that nearly killed him on five occasions. Because there was ...

How AI Could Strengthen the Doctor-Patient Relationship: Dr. Ashwin Vasan, Senior Fellow in Health Policy and Global Affairs at Yale School of Public Health and Affiliate Faculty at Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs

“Ultimately, AI needs to be a tool that doesn't break down trust or empathy or clinical judgment, but rather helps enhance those things.” That aspirational perspective from Dr. Ashwin Vasa...

Imagine you had a tutor who was with you every time you were studying and, because they knew your learning style, strengths and weaknesses, could hand you the right content at the moment you needed it to deepen your understanding of a topic.  That’s the pedagogically powerful experience students are having with AI-enhanced learning systems such as Osmosis AI, making possible what our guest, Elsevier’s Chief AI Offi...

“Everything I’m not, made me everything I am.” For Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, that song lyric captures how growing up in a community marked by food insecurity and limited access to healthcare shaped a lifelong mission to improve health on a broad scale. Dr. LaMar, as he’s known, has pursued that mission in a variety of impactful roles, including CDC disease detective, director of the Illinois Department of Public ...

“Every person deserves kindness, dignity, and respect, regardless of what their medical situation is,” says Madison Donnelly, PA-C, who joins host Dr. Parsa Mohri on the latest installment of our NextGen Journeys series. As you’ll hear in this thoughtful conversation, Madison is bringing that commitment to patient advocacy and equitable care to her patients at Community Care Physicians in Albany, New York. A gradu...

We’ve spoken with many guests about clinical and technological trends impacting healthcare providers, but less so about the trends on the business side of practicing medicine.  So on this episode, we’re going to make up for that by spending our time with Dr. Alexander Vaccaro, an influential spine surgeon and president of one of the largest musculoskeletal practices in the U.S. -- Rothman Orthopaedic Institute -- w...

We've had many conversations on Raise the Line about the challenges of health communication in today's world of information overload, but none of our guests have the kind of expertise Dr. Tesfa Alexander has acquired in a career that has taken him from Madison Avenue to the halls of government and academia. From guiding tobacco education research at the FDA to leading public health initiatives at MITRE, Dr. Alexander has developed ...

We’re marking Rare Disease Month 2026 by highlighting the powerful story of Shanthi Hegde, a young patient advocate working to transform how bleeding disorders are understood, treated, and supported. This work is fueled by her own arduous journey with two rare bleeding disorders and immune dysregulatory syndrome, and an extended diagnostic odyssey marked by dismissal, underdiagnosis, and structural bias. “I was tol...

Few issues have tested public trust in medicine as deeply as vaccines, and few individuals have influenced that dialogue more than Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a longtime member of the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee. In this timely and candid interview with Raise the Line host Lindsey Smith, Dr. Offit points to thi...

“I do not believe we should be testing to test. We have to know, is this test going to change management and is it going to make a difference,” says pediatric allergist-immunologist Dr. Zachary Rubin. His knack for providing that sort of straightforward guidance explains why Dr. Rubin has become a trusted voice on allergies, asthma, and vaccines for his millions of followers on social media platforms. It’s also wh...